Nobody Puts Mary in a Corner

Last week, I was sitting in Mass trying to pay attention during the homily — and failing miserably.

I just couldn’t help myself from thinking about that famous quote from the oh-so-popular-and-yet-so-awful movie, Dirty Dancing.

That famous line of Patrick Swayze, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” just kept popping up in my head.

The struggle is real, people.

Those of you who have no idea what I am referring to, you must have had a very blessed childhood — for the rest of us, I’m sure we can agree it was hardly the place for that memory.

At least I could be comforted by the words of St. Teresa of Avila in that moment:

“The mind is so wild that it doesn’t seem to be anything else but a frantic madman no one can tie down; nor am I master of it long enough to keep it quiet for the space of a Creed.” 

You get me, Teresa.  You get me.

Let me be clear, that movie was awful.  I am not recommending you watch it — but what began as an awful distraction, ended with an unusual turn of events.

It led me to think about Mary and her role in forming some of the greatest Saints the world has ever known — I realize it seems like a huge leap from Patrick Swayze, but stick with me here.

There I sat, looking totally enthralled with the homily, but instead a million miles away, pondering why some Catholics seem so darn embarrassed to acknowledge Mary’s role in their lives.

So many of us, especially those with Protestant friends, tend to hide her away and never refer to her while amongst our Protestant friends — why is that?

But then, the thought hit me like a ton of bricks, “Nobody puts Mary in a corner”.  

Maybe that Patrick Swayze was on to something.

Granted, his character in Dirty Dancing  totally missed the target on the sex outside of marriage thing — but still, there’s something I can admire about the sentiment behind his statement.

I thought about my own life and the times I feared sharing about my devotion to Mary.

It’s not that I’m ungrateful for her intercession — because believe me, I know she has looked out for me like the best of mothers.

But somehow I have felt that sharing about Mary would be a turnoff to people — that it would confirm all the Protestant suspicions that we were just a bunch of Mary worshippers.  Say it isn’t so!

At the end of the day, though, I didn’t choose Mary to be the Mother of God — God did.  

So maybe I just need to get over myself and stop putting Mary in a corner.

No, she is not a goddess — but that is one of the reasons why she is so special.

There was something about Mary that convinced God it was time to send His Son to the world.

She is human, just like you and me, only she always said “yes” to God — never said no — no matter what saying “yes” to God would entail.

She raised her Son, she loved him and prepared him for His mission.

It’s not that God had to have Jesus born of a woman, but He chose to be.

God knew the fittingness of Man working with a woman to bring about the redemption of the world.

Mary was to become the New Eve and Jesus the New Adam — only they wouldn’t make a royal mess of things like the first Adam and Eve did.

They would partner with each other and they would fulfill the promise made in Genesis 3:15.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Not until Mary, did God finally find a woman who was truly capable of this most crucial task: to crush the head of the serpent alongside of her Son.

Which is why I wonder at our fear of honoring Mary as we should — after all, the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth decided she was worthy to be the mother of God and the long-awaited woman promised in Genesis.

Who am I to argue with God’s choice?

As an aside, I always have to laugh when people try to tell me about the patriarchy in the Church — yeah, you might find some jerks in the Church, but there is no institution in the world that has done more to ensure the rights of women and to acknowledge their dignity than the Church.

With Christianity we see the call to return to the original intention of man and woman as partners, equal in dignity and worth.

This partnership and equality is deeply rooted in Scripture and the Church affirms that equality time and time again.

Have we forgotten the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary, “Hail, full of grace”. (Luke 1:28)

Not “hail, pretty good person” or “hail, tolerably nice one”, or “hail mostly good one” — she was hailed as full of grace.  I don’t know anybody else in the world hailed before or since as that.

Have we forgotten the very important place of precedence the writers of the Gospels gave to Mary at Pentecost,

“All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”

Mary was the only one named specifically before Pentecost — not Peter or James or John — only Mary.

To me, that makes something very clear: the Church believes in the dignity and worth of women and it believes in Mary’s special role in making us better Christians: courageous and full of love.

If you want the Holy Spirit to really show up in powerful ways — you better make sure Mary is present with you and praying for you.

After all, she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit.  If that sounds strange to you, you need to re-examine the spousal relationship God intends for all of us.

Jesus did call the Church His bride, after all.

Let’s be real for a moment. No matter how much you love God, you are dishonoring Him if you dishonor His mother or refuse to take her into your life, as Christ requested on the cross.

If you want to be one of His beloved disciples, you must do as the beloved disciple did and take Mary into your home. (John 19:26-27)

And finally, let’s not forget that the devil fears her more than any man.

Why does he fear Mary so much?  He fears her, not because of her greatness, but because of her lowliness — her humility.

That’s right.  If you get your head crushed from God — well, that’s understandable. You could at least say you lost to a worthy opponent.

But Mary, a woman who objectively speaking is lower than the angels — to have your head crushed by a woman would be intolerable for the devil!

Which is why she is so powerful. The devil does not want to be defeated by a woman!  A “lowly” woman!

And so he runs.  The demons run.  They hide from a battle with her.

Which is why I’m going to stay to close to Mary.

I’m going to say my Rosary and consecrate myself to Jesus through Mary, and renew that consecration yearly if I can — because I want her to have my back when I face the devil and his demons.

I want to be able to say, “Let me introduce you to my Mother.  I believe you have met her on previous occasions — and had your butt roundly kicked.  So back off, Satan, Mary’s got my back”.

Oh yeah, and when Mary’s got your back, so does her Son.  So you’re in good hands, my friends.

So much more that I could say, but I will end with this.

Of all the priests I’ve met in the Church, those with a special devotion to Mary seem to avoid most of the pitfalls of unchastity and pride and all those other things that lead them far away from God.

And you would be hard pressed to find any great Saint who didn’t have a true devotion to Mary.

So don’t be afraid to love her like your own mother and don’t be afraid that honoring her will in any way take away from the love you have for her Son.

Just be like Patrick Swayze, with your beautifully coifed hair, and decide today that nobody will be putting Mary in any corners on your watch.

Nobody.

 

Sharing over at Kelly’s